The House Communications Subcommittee has named the witnesses for its March 5 renewal of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) and they include National Cable & Telecommunications & Information Administration President Michael Powell (pictured).
The witnesses are Marci Burdick, senior VP, Shurz Communications; Powell; Mike Palkovic, executive VP, DirecTV; and Matt Zinn, senior VP and general counsel, Tivo.
The hearing is expected to include a number of issues raised in a draft being worked on by Republicans that will be of particular interest to all those constituencies, including on retrans, the FCC's ban on integrated set-tops, and allowing cable ops to negotiate separately with TV stations and their JSA and SSA partners in a market.
STELA, which deals primarily with the blanket license that allows satellite operators to deliver local TV stations to their subs, has to be renewed by the end of the year or it will sunset.
